


Daylight

by NoirAngel011



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Entrapta Raises the Dead, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Major Character Undeath, Major Illness, Nightmares, Two Versions, because I needed happiness, cloning, they finally make that goddamn pie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27555007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoirAngel011/pseuds/NoirAngel011
Summary: Adora had told Entrapta that she shouldn’t mess with the forces of life and death.But she did, because it’s Entrapta.Now Mara’s back, but things don’t go quite according to plan. Entrapta really shouldn’t have messed with life and death.Chapter 1 is the happier chapter. Chapter 2 is the sadder one.I wrote this because I miss Mara.
Relationships: Adora & Mara (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Mara & Razz (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Version 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: if a person has hypothermia, it is not good to put them in a warm bath. But technically, this isn’t hypothermia. It’s “she should be dead and therefore her body temperature is extremely low” At least, that’s what I’m going with.

“Entrapta? What are you doing?” Adora asked as she walked up Darla’s ramp. Entrapta and Hordak had been working out here for days, and she was curious to find out what they were working on.

“Bringing Mara back to life,” Entrapta said as if she had just said that the sky was blue. Adora dropped the cup of coffee she had been holding.

“You’re WHAT??!!” Adora exclaimed. Entrapta threw her welding mask up onto her head and turned to look at her.

“Bringing Mara back to life via cloning! Hordak’s helping. You wouldn’t believe how much of her DNA is on Darla!”

Adora blanched. “That’s a horrible idea! She died over a thousand years ago! What if something goes wrong?!”

“Then we try again!”

Adora groaned and slid down to the floor, falling into the wet coffee.

“Eww, gross.” Adora made a sour face as she stood up and made her way back to the castle to get cleaned up.

When she returned to the ship, the spilled coffee had been cleaned and Entrapta and Hordak were happily working on their little project. Adora shook her head. 

This was a horrible idea.

…

It took two months to bring Mara back. Adora was shocked.

Considering they already knew how to clone via Hordak, that wasn’t the problem. There was DNA all over Darla. The problem was how Entrapta had managed to use programming from Mara’s recordings and give her all of her old memories. It was almost horrifying to think that this clone remembered how she died.

For simplicity’s sake, Adora decided that she was going to treat this clone as Mara, considering they shared a subconscious and memories… somehow.

The only thing Entrapta hadn’t been able to do was to give her the ability to transform into She-Ra. Adora was fine with that. The sword was broken anyway.

Entrapta had been ridiculously excited about her project. Bringing a dead girl back to life, how cool was that?! Adora was not as excited. She could only imagine how much could go wrong.

But there was no stopping Entrapta when she wanted to do something. So they just had to ride it out.

Adora had been there when Mara came back to life. Entrapta had wanted her to be, for Mara’s sake. Unlike Horde Prime’s cloning techniques, Mara was her own person now, with her own thoughts and feelings not controlled by anything else.

She looked just like Mara. Entrapta had found some old photographs somewhere in the Crystle Castle, somehow. She said that she found a lot of Mara’s stuff buried inside of it. She hypothesized that after her death, Mara’s friends took all her stuff and shoved it away into the castle to be forgotten to time. And she based her color palette off of those photos. 

She was laid out on a table, and all they were doing was waiting for her to wake up. Entrapta was confident that this would work, Adora was just weary. Her anxiety was off the charts. She was clutching Catra’s hand in hers as they waited. It was just the four of them and Mara, waiting.

Slowly, Adora watched Mara’s face shift in discomfort before her eyes blinked open. She felt Catra startle next to her, but her only focus was on Mara. The two made eye contact, blue on grey, before Mara lifted a hand to block the harsh light of the lab.

“Owww…” she muttered. Adora smiled and Entrapta was bouncing up and down quietly in the corner.

“She’s alive!!” Entrapta cheered, mad scientist style.

“I’m… alive…” Mara looked down at her body, slowly sitting up. She flexed her fingers and moved her legs as if testing out her muscles and joints. “How?” she looked at Adora. Adora pointed to Entrapta.

“We may have given her a little too much freedom with your ship. She found a bunch of your DNA and used it to clone Mara. But you’re hardly a clone. You have all of Mara’s characteristics and memories.” Mara looked around the room, getting her bearings.

Entrapta came running up to Mara.

“Hi! I’m Entrapta! How do you feel?” Entrapta began to poke and prod at Mara. She gently pushed her hand away.

“I’m fine. I feel fine.” Then her eyes went wide and her head spun towards Adora.

“Wait? Are you Adora?!” Adora nodded, smiling.

“Yeah.” Mara then looked towards the window. From her position, she could see out into the castle gardens. She hopped down off the table and ran over to the window.

“Woah…” beyond the garden, she could see all the flowers and wildlife and greenery that Adora had brought to Etheria with Horde Prime’s defeat. Adora got up and walked over to stand next to Mara.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Mara nodded.

“It’s beautiful.”

Seeing Mara up close like this felt surreal to Adora. This wasn’t a memory or a hologram, it was real. Mara’s hand was resting on the window sill and Adora carefully laid her’s on top. Mara looked at her and Adora smiled warmly.

“Welcome back, Mara.”

…

Adora led Mara through the Whispering Woods.

“It’s been 1000 years, and she’s still alive?! That can’t be possible.” Mara questioned.

“Yeah, well, it is. And you’re going to meet her.” Adora held Mara’s hand, pulling her through the trees to Madame Razz’s little hut.

Adora gently pushed back the curtain.

“Madame Razz?” She called.

Razz appeared from the back of the hut.

“Adora, dearie!” She had finally started calling Adora by her name after a while.

“I have a surprise for you. You know Princess Entrapta, right? Well, she managed to bring Mara back to life!” Adora dragged Mara into the hut. Mara smiled as her eyes landed on the old woman.

“Hi, Razz,” she said simply. Razz’s eyes lit up.

“Mara! Dearie! Hello!” She pulled Mara down to her level, hugging her and planting a kiss on her cheek. Mara giggled. She looked up to Adora, mouthing ‘ _ thank you _ ’.

“Now, we must bake a pie!” Razz said. Adora watched Mara tear up as she remembered her promise. She nodded.

“Let’s make a pie.”

The three walked through the forest, picking berries and talking. Adora filled Mara in on a lot of what she had missed, the war and Horde Prime, and of course his defeat. When they reached the hut once more, they baked.

Adora watched Razz and Mara mix dough from the small table in the house, smiling to herself as she saw Mara be so happy. She had always admired Mara once she found out what had really happened, and to see her getting what she deserved. 

While the pie baked, Mara took it upon herself to tidy up Razz’s space, sweeping and putting away knick-knacks that littered the floor.

They continued to talk and catch up once the pie was baked and cooled. They ended up eating most of the pie.

“We should probably get back to Bright Moon. Mara still needs to meet everybody,” Adora said as they cleaned up. Mara nodded.

“Yeah, we’ll see you later Razz!” 

“Goodbye, Adora! Goodbye, Mara!” Razz waved them off from outside the hut as they started the trek back to Bright Moon.

…

After going around and meeting all the princesses and the rest of the crew, Mara, Adora, Glimmer, and Catra were lounging around Catra and Adora’s room. 

“So, you two are a thing?” Mara asked, gesturing between Catra and Adora. Catra nodded.

“Yeah, you got a problem?” She said, slightly coldly. Adora glared at her.

“No! No! I would never! I was just asking...” Mara pulled her knees up to her chest, sliding away from Catra. Adora reached over and placed a hand on her knee.

“It’s okay, this is how she always is. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Mara nodded, biting her lip. Adora noticed that Mara was slightly shivering. “Are you cold?” she asked. 

Mara shyly nodded. “A little.”   
“Okay, one second.” Adora got up and left the room. While she was gone, Catra was shooting glares at Mara.

“I don’t know what I did to you.” Mara shook her head.

Catra didn’t say anything else, but she stopped glaring and turned away. They felt the heater kick on after a moment. Adora slipped back into the room a few minutes later.

“Better?” she asked Mara. Mara nodded.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“So, how are you enjoying be back?” Glimmer asked. Mara smiled.

“Etheria is so much more beautiful than I remembered it. It’s all so amazing. I love it.”

They continued to talk and Mara seemed to just keep getting colder. She wasn’t sure why.

“Woah, you’re really shivering. Here.” Adora pointed out. She grabbed a fuzzy blanket off of her bed and wrapped it around Mara’s shoulders. Her fingers brushed Mara’s neck and she jumped back. “Jeez, you’re so cold.” She moved her hand back in, sliding her fingers behind Mara’s bangs to gauge her temperature. She was cold. Much colder than she should be.

“It’s not that bad,” Mara said, brushing it off. Adora shook her head.

“There’s no way this is okay. Glimmer?” She looked towards the queen.

“I’ll go make tea. We’ll see if that helps.” Glimmer teleported away to the kitchen and Mara curled in on herself again in her chair.

Glimmer came back with tea soon enough. She carefully passed a cup into Mara’s shaking hands. She took a sip, then smiled at Glimmer.

“Thanks, Glimmer.”

“Of course.” Glimmer handed tea to Adora and Catra, then grabbed her cup and sat back down in her seat.

They kept talking, but everyone kept giving concerned glances at Mara. Even Catra was slightly worried about her.

The tea hadn’t helped. Glimmer had pulled out a thermometer. After taking her temperature, it read back 93 degrees Fahrenheit. 

“She’s too cold,” Adora whispered to Glimmer. Mara wasn’t listening to them anymore, holding her blanket around her shaking body and staring out the window.

“Something must have gone wrong during the cloning. She shouldn’t be alive,” Glimmer whispered back. Catra, Adora, and Glimmer were huddled in a little circle, occasionally glancing back at Mara.

“What do we do?” Catra asked.

“I say, we try a hot bath. Then, wrap her in a bunch of blankets, bring in a space heater, and put her to bed. Then we hope and pray that it gets better,” Glimmer said.

“Okay, I’ll run a bath. Catra, you go find a space heater. Glimmer, go talk to Entrapta about this,” Adora told them. Glimmer and Catra nodded, then took off. Adora walked over to Mara and kneeled down in front of her.

“Hey, Mara?” Mara looked at her and Adora noticed that her eyes were dulling. “We think that maybe a bath will help warm you up. Do mind if I help?” 

Mara shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. Adora felt her heart breaking for her.

“Okay.” Adora moved to the bathroom, turning on the faucet and running a hot bath. She could see the steam rolling off the water as it hit the tub, but she hoped that it would be okay. She really just wanted Mara to be okay.

She put some soap into the bath to make it bubbly, then went to grab Mara. she took the blanket off of her and then carried her to the bathroom. Mara weakly grabbed onto the back of Adora’s jacket and rested her head on her collar bone.

Adora set her down on the counter, moving her braid to undo the accessory at the bottom. She also slid off the cuff that Mara wore around the many hair ties holding up her braid. She wrapped her braid around the ties, securing it into a bun with a scrunchie to keep it from getting wet. Wet hair when she was already freezing would not be a good thing.

She took off her choker, then helped her get undressed, slowly helping her lower into the tub. Mara laid back against the wall, sliding down as deep into the water as she could without submerging her face.

Adora sat with her back to the tub, glancing back at Mara a few times to make sure she was still breathing.

After about twenty minutes, there was a knock at the door.

“I got the space heater and some extra blankets. Sparkles talked to Entrapta, she’s trying to figure out what went wrong, but without seeing Mara she isn’t sure,” Catra said through the door.

“Okay. We’ll be done here in a few minutes, hopefully.”

Catra cracked the door open.

“Here’s some more comfortable clothes for her.” She set down a pajama set on the counter, definitely more geared for winter, but would hopefully make Mara warmer.

Adora turned around, picking up Mara’s wrist to feel her pulse and temperature. Mara cracked her eyes open at the feeling of Adora grabbing her. Adora gently smiled at her.

She felt a little warmer but her pulse was slower than it should be.

“Wanna go lay down? You look tired.” Adora asked. Mara weakly nodded.

Adora helped her out of the water, making sure she was completely dried off and then helping her into her pajamas. She then lifted her up onto the counter and took her hair down, undoing her braid and pulling out the hair ties. She carefully brushed through her ridiculously long hair, letting it fall around her shoulders and back.

She picked her up again, carrying her into the bedroom and to the bed. The room was a lot warmer now with the heater on, Adora noticed. Catra, Glimmer, and Entrapta were all in the room, various degrees of worry written on their faces. She brought Mara over to the bed, laying her down and covering her in the blankets.

“Thermometer?” She asked, holding out a hand for it once Mara was comfortable. Glimmer placed it into her palm.

Adora carefully placed it into Mara’s mouth, making sure it got under her tongue. They waited for a few minutes before it went off, beeping insistently. 

“94.2…” she muttered. 

“At least it went up,” Glimmer said, trying to find the silver lining.

“It’s still too low,” Catra countered, ever the pessimist. 

Entrapta came over, sitting behind Mara and gently prodding her.

“How far do you think I can go?” she asked.

“However far it takes to figure out what’s wrong so we can fix it,” Adora said.

“Well, to do that to the best of my ability and the most accurately, I’m gonna need to dissect her.” Entrapta pulled a knife from her belt.

“No! You can’t dissect her. We’re trying  _ not  _ to kill her.” Adora took the knife from Entrapta. Entrapta nodded.

“No death. Got it.” And then she went to work, trying to figure out what was wrong. Adora crossed the room to sit with Glimmer and Catra.

After almost ten minutes, she slid off the bed.

“So, what is it?” Glimmer asked.

“It was definitely a problem with the cloning. Probably has something to do with the programming I pulled from the recordings. Her body thinks that she’s dead even though she isn’t. Whether or not she’ll survive this is unclear. She could get better, or she could get substantially worse and die from hypothermia. Only time will tell.” 

Glimmer, Adora, and Catra all visibly deflated.

“So there isn’t anything you can do to fix it?” Adora asked. Entrapta sadly shook her head.

“No, there’s not. I’m sorry.” 

Adora sighed.

“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known this would happen.” Adora got up and crossed the room, taking a seat next to Mara on the bed. The girl was almost asleep, seemingly. Her breathing had evened out, so that was a good sign. Adora brushed her bangs out of her face.

“I think she needs some sleep. You guys should probably go,” Adora said solemnly. She was trying her hardest not to cry. She couldn’t let Mara die, not again.

Catra nodded, coming over to Adora and lightly kissing the top of her head. “Take care of her,” she mumbled. Adora nodded. Glimmer, Entrapta, and Catra then left, leaving Adora alone with Mara.

She laid down next to her, sliding an arm under her and pulling her into her chest.

“Get some rest, Mara. We’ll get through this together,” she told her, gently playing with her hair. Mara weakly nodded, closing her eyes completely and falling asleep with her head on Adora’s chest.

…

Adora found herself nodding off after almost an hour of Mara sleeping when she was startled back awake by thrashing.

She looked down at Mara, who was kicking and thrashing in her sleep. She was sweating and her face looked pained. Adora gently grabbed her and pulled her back to her. She considered herself to be pretty good at calming someone down during and after nightmares.

“Hey, hey, Mara. It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re okay,” she told her, stroking her head and holding her in a way that would prevent her from thrashing. Her skin was still cold despite the sticky sweat and now she was starting to cry.

She woke up with a small scream, having no idea where she was.

“It’s okay, Mara. You’re okay,” Adora said gently, rocking her. Mara clutched her jacket, burying her face into her shoulder. Adora started to play with her hair to calm her down.

“I-I failed,” Mara whispered, and Adora knew immediately what her dream had been about.

“No, no you didn’t. You were so brave, Mara. You were a hero. Don’t let anyone tell you that you were a failure. Without you, none of us would be here right now,” Adora assured her, holding her close. Mara sniffled.

“I’m cold,” she said. Adora nodded.

“I know. I know. Here.” Adora reached for the thermometer on the bedside table. She waited for Mara to turn her face so she could access her mouth, carefully sliding the thermometer under her tongue. 

After three minutes, it went off. Adora read the number. It was at 93.7 degrees. It had gone down. Shit.

“Is it bad?” Mara asked.

No sense in lying to her.

“It went down,” Adora told her. Mara nodded, laying her head back down so her forehead was pressed into the crook of Adora’s neck.

“Get some more sleep, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Mara fell back asleep in less than two minutes, but Adora stayed awake, petting her hair and staring up at the ceiling. For the first time since the war ended almost a year ago, she didn’t have any idea what to do.

…

Another four hours had passed. It was dark outside now. Mara had been in and out of sleep, waking up from nightmares just to fall back asleep to more. Every time, Adora comforted her afterwards and tried to calm her down.

Her body temperature kept dropping. It was bordering 90 degrees now and Adora was losing hope.

Glimmer came into the room holding a tray with dinner for both girls on it.

“You look like you’ve had it rough,” she said, setting it down on the desk near the bed.

“It has been. She keeps getting colder and every time she sleeps all she dreams about is her death.” Adora lightly brushed a piece of hair out of Mara’s face. She was sleeping peacefully for now, but she didn’t know how long it would last.

“Do you think she’s gonna make it?” Glimmer asked. Tears filled Adora’s eyes at the question.

“Honestly? I don’t think so. And that hurts so much to say, but she’s not doing good.” Adora shook her head, moving the hand that wasn’t wrapped around Mara to wipe at her eyes.

“Well, the best we can do is make sure she stays comfortable. If she has to die again, we can make it so that she’s happy and comfortable and surrounded by the people who love her.” Glimmer blinked away the tears in her own eyes. She took Mara’s food off the tray. “You need to eat though.” she brought Adora over her food, setting the tray down in her lap.

“Thanks, Glimmer.” Glimmer nodded.

“Catra mentioned letting you two have the bed tonight and sleeping in another room, I think. So you might not see her.” Adora shook her head.

“No. I need her. This bed can fit all three of us.” Adora took a shaky bite of the soup Glimmer had brought her.

“Okay, I’ll tell her. Mara’s soup is over there. It might help warm her up if you want to wake her up and can get her to eat it.” Adora nodded, and with that, Glimmer left.

Mara woke up just as the door shut. 

“Did she wake you up?” Adora asked. Mara weakly nodded. Adora could tell that she was fading fast. “Are you hungry? Glimmer brought soup.” Adora pushed the bowl closer to Mara. Mara nodded again, shivering.

Adora spoonfed Mara, hoping and praying that it would do something to help her. Her grey eyes were clouded still. Adora brushed her bangs out of her eyes anyway.

After eating, Mara drifted off to sleep again. Adora wondered if at this point it was less of Mara sleeping and more her falling unconscious. She hadn’t had a nightmare in almost an hour.

Adora sighed and put the tray down on the floor. Mara rested her head right under Adora’s chin. Adora slowly stroked her hair. She felt like crying, but she wouldn’t. Not right now. She had to still have hope. 

The door opened again and Catra slipped in.

She didn’t say anything, just came over to the bed and crawled into Adora’s lap, curling up and resting her head on Mara’s legs. Adora reached her free hand down and rested it on Catra’s head, lightly scratching her ear.

She fell asleep buried under Mara and Catra, the coldness of Mara’s body an ever-present reminder of what could happen hanging over them.

…

Adora woke up and the first thing she noticed was that the sun was up. She immediately freaked out. Catra was still laying across her and Mara’s laps and Mara was still laying with her head under Adora’s chin like she had been when Adora fell asleep. She didn’t look like she had ever moved during the night.

Adora rushed to grab her wrist, feeling for a pulse. Something, anything, that would calm her nerves and confirm that Mara was still alive.

If she had been a little calmer, she would have realized that Mara wasn’t nearly as cold as she had been and her breathing was even and calm.

She found her pulse and let out a sigh of relief, leaning back against the pillows. She then moved her hand up behind Mara’s bangs, feeling her temperature. She was colder than she should have been, but warmer than she was the night before.

Adora smiled. Things were looking up.

Mara started to slowly wake up. When she opened her eyes, Adora noticed that they were finally clear. They hadn’t been clear since the afternoon of the day before.

“You feeling better?” she asked, voice sweet and gentle. She had never heard herself sound like that. She wanted to be excited that she was getting better, but she needed the confirmation from Mara first.

“Yeah, a lot better,” Mara said. It was the first time she had talked without whispering or crying since her bath the night before.

“That’s good.” Adora reached for the thermometer. She knew that the number wouldn’t leave her devastated like it had so many times before. 

When it started beeping, Catra woke up. Adora felt a little bad, but was too excited over the 96.3 degrees looking back at her.

“Hmmmmmm…” Catra groaned. 

“Morning, babe,” Adora said, smiling. Catra looked up at her.

“Girl’s not dead,” Catra noted, glancing at Mara.

Adora laughed. “No, she isn’t.” She looked at Mara, stroking her hair some more.

Mara rested her head on Adora’s shoulder, still feeling kind of fatigued. 

She slowly reached a hand out and began to pet Catra’s arm. Catra seemed startled for a moment and opened her mouth to speak but Adora glared at her.

' _ Let her pet you. Don’t be a bitch. _ ’ She mouthed. Catra rolled her eyes but let Mara continue.

The three girls laid there, surrounded by soft sunlight. Adora still had an arm around Mara and played with Catra’s almost shoulder-length hair with her free hand. Adora leaned her head against Mara’s. They might not be completely out of the woods yet, but they would get there. Things were looking up for Mara.

No words needed to be said to know that they were all eternally grateful to have Mara alive that morning. Adora gently rubbed her upper arm.

Mara smiled, cuddling into Adora’s embrace. 

Etheria’s magic truly was beautiful, Adora finally realized. If it could work miracles to keep her there with them and alive, she knew that Mara had been right about their little planet all along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll have the second chapter up tomorrow, but it's 1:30 AM and I'm so damn tired I need sleep before I can be sad.


	2. Version 2

“Entrapta? What are you doing?” Adora asked as she walked up Darla’s ramp. Entrapta and Hordak had been working out here for days, and she was curious to find out what they were working on.

“Bringing Mara back to life,” Entrapta said as if she had just said that the sky was blue. Adora dropped the cup of coffee she had been holding.

“You’re WHAT??!!” Adora exclaimed. Entrapta threw her welding mask up onto her head and turned to look at her.

“Bringing Mara back to life via cloning! Hordak’s helping. You wouldn’t believe how much of her DNA is on Darla!”

Adora blanched. “That’s a horrible idea! She died over a thousand years ago! What if something goes wrong?!”

“Then we try again!”

Adora groaned and slid down to the floor, falling into the wet coffee.

“Eww, gross.” Adora made a sour face as she stood up and made her way back to the castle to get cleaned up.

When she returned to the ship, the spilled coffee had been cleaned and Entrapta and Hordak were happily working on their little project. Adora shook her head. 

This was a horrible idea.

…

It took two months to bring Mara back. Adora was shocked.

Considering they already knew how to clone via Hordak, that wasn’t the problem. There was DNA all over Darla. The problem was how Entrapta had managed to use programming from Mara’s recordings and give her all of her old memories. It was almost horrifying to think that this clone remembered how she died.

For simplicity’s sake, Adora decided that she was going to treat this clone as Mara, considering they shared a subconscious and memories… somehow.

The only thing Entrapta hadn’t been able to do was to give her the ability to transform into She-Ra. Adora was fine with that. The sword was broken anyway.

Entrapta had been ridiculously excited about her project. Bringing a dead girl back to life, how cool was that?! Adora was not as excited. She could only imagine how much could go wrong.

But there was no stopping Entrapta when she wanted to do something. So they just had to ride it out.

Adora had been there when Mara came back to life. Entrapta had wanted her to be, for Mara’s sake. Unlike Horde Prime’s cloning techniques, Mara was her own person now, with her own thoughts and feelings not controlled by anything else.

She looked just like Mara. Entrapta had found some old photographs somewhere in the Crystle Castle, somehow. She said that she found a lot of Mara’s stuff buried inside of it. She hypothesized that after her death, Mara’s friends took all her stuff and shoved it away into the castle to be forgotten to time. And she based her color palette off of those photos. 

She was laid out on a table, and all they were doing was waiting for her to wake up. Entrapta was confident that this would work, Adora was just weary. Her anxiety was off the charts. She was clutching Catra’s hand in hers as they waited. It was just the four of them and Mara, waiting.

Slowly, Adora watched Mara’s face shift in discomfort before her eyes blinked open. She felt Catra startle next to her, but her only focus was on Mara. The two made eye contact, blue on grey, before Mara lifted a hand to block the harsh light of the lab.

“Owww…” she muttered. Adora smiled and Entrapta was bouncing up and down quietly in the corner.

“She’s alive!!” Entrapta cheered, mad scientist style.

“I’m… alive…” Mara looked down at her body, slowly sitting up. She flexed her fingers and moved her legs as if testing out her muscles and joints. “How?” she looked at Adora. Adora pointed to Entrapta.

“We may have given her a little too much freedom with your ship. She found a bunch of your DNA and used it to clone Mara. But you’re hardly a clone. You have all of Mara’s characteristics and memories.” Mara looked around the room, getting her bearings.

Entrapta came running up to Mara.

“Hi! I’m Entrapta! How do you feel?” Entrapta began to poke and prod at Mara. She gently pushed her hand away.

“I’m fine. I feel fine.” Then her eyes went wide and her head spun towards Adora.

“Wait? Are you Adora?!” Adora nodded, smiling.

“Yeah.” Mara then looked towards the window. From her position, she could see out into the castle gardens. She hopped down off the table and ran over to the window.

“Woah…” beyond the garden, she could see all the flowers and wildlife and greenery that Adora had brought to Etheria with Horde Prime’s defeat. Adora got up and walked over to stand next to Mara.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Mara nodded.

“It’s beautiful.”

Seeing Mara up close like this felt surreal to Adora. This wasn’t a memory or a hologram, it was real. Mara’s hand was resting on the window sill and Adora carefully laid her’s on top. Mara looked at her and Adora smiled warmly.

“Welcome back, Mara.”

…

Adora led Mara through the Whispering Woods.

“It’s been 1000 years, and she’s still alive?! That can’t be possible.” Mara questioned.

“Yeah, well, it is. And you’re going to meet her.” Adora held Mara’s hand, pulling her through the trees to Madame Razz’s little hut.

Adora gently pushed back the curtain.

“Madame Razz?” She called.

Razz appeared from the back of the hut.

“Adora, dearie!” She had finally started calling Adora by her name after a while.

“I have a surprise for you. You know Princess Entrapta, right? Well, she managed to bring Mara back to life!” Adora dragged Mara into the hut. Mara smiled as her eyes landed on the old woman.

“Hi, Razz,” she said simply. Razz’s eyes lit up.

“Mara! Dearie! Hello!” She pulled Mara down to her level, hugging her and planting a kiss on her cheek. Mara giggled. She looked up to Adora, mouthing ‘ _thank you_ ’.

“Now, we must bake a pie!” Razz said. Adora watched Mara tear up as she remembered her promise. She nodded.

“Let’s make a pie.”

The three walked through the forest, picking berries and talking. Adora filled Mara in on a lot of what she had missed, the war and Horde Prime, and of course his defeat. When they reached the hut once more, they baked.

Adora watched Razz and Mara mix dough from the small table in the house, smiling to herself as she saw Mara be so happy. She had always admired Mara once she found out what had really happened, and to see her getting what she deserved. 

While the pie baked, Mara took it upon herself to tidy up Razz’s space, sweeping and putting away knick-knacks that littered the floor.

They continued to talk and catch up once the pie was baked and cooled. They ended up eating most of the pie.

“We should probably get back to Bright Moon. Mara still needs to meet everybody,” Adora said as they cleaned up. Mara nodded.

“Yeah, we’ll see you later Razz!” 

“Goodbye, Adora! Goodbye, Mara!” Razz waved them off from outside the hut as they started the trek back to Bright Moon.

…

After going around and meeting all the princesses and the rest of the crew, Mara, Adora, Glimmer, and Catra were lounging around Catra and Adora’s room. 

“So, you two are a thing?” Mara asked, gesturing between Catra and Adora. Catra nodded.

“Yeah, you got a problem?” She said, slightly coldly. Adora glared at her.

“No! No! I would never! I was just asking...” Mara pulled her knees up to her chest, sliding away from Catra. Adora reached over and placed a hand on her knee.

“It’s okay, this is how she always is. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Mara nodded, biting her lip. Adora noticed that Mara was slightly shivering. “Are you cold?” she asked. 

Mara shyly nodded. “A little.”  
“Okay, one second.” Adora got up and left the room. While she was gone, Catra was shooting glares at Mara.

“I don’t know what I did to you.” Mara shook her head.

Catra didn’t say anything else, but she stopped glaring and turned away. They felt the heater kick on after a moment. Adora slipped back into the room a few minutes later.

“Better?” she asked Mara. Mara nodded.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“So, how are you enjoying be back?” Glimmer asked. Mara smiled.

“Etheria is so much more beautiful than I remembered it. It’s all so amazing. I love it.”

They continued to talk and Mara seemed to just keep getting colder. She wasn’t sure why.

“Woah, you’re really shivering. Here.” Adora pointed out. She grabbed a fuzzy blanket off of her bed and wrapped it around Mara’s shoulders. Her fingers brushed Mara’s neck and she jumped back. “Jeez, you’re so cold.” She moved her hand back in, sliding her fingers behind Mara’s bangs to gauge her temperature. She was cold. Much colder than she should be.

“It’s not that bad,” Mara said, brushing it off. Adora shook her head.

“There’s no way this is okay. Glimmer?” She looked towards the queen.

“I’ll go make tea. We’ll see if that helps.” Glimmer teleported away to the kitchen and Mara curled in on herself again in her chair.

Glimmer came back with tea soon enough. She carefully passed a cup into Mara’s shaking hands. She took a sip, then smiled at Glimmer.

“Thanks, Glimmer.”

“Of course.” Glimmer handed tea to Adora and Catra, then grabbed her cup and sat back down in her seat.

They kept talking, but everyone kept giving concerned glances at Mara. Even Catra was slightly worried about her.

The tea hadn’t helped. Glimmer had pulled out a thermometer. After taking her temperature, it read back 93 degrees Fahrenheit. 

“She’s too cold,” Adora whispered to Glimmer. Mara wasn’t listening to them anymore, holding her blanket around her shaking body and staring out the window.

“Something must have gone wrong during the cloning. She shouldn’t be alive,” Glimmer whispered back. Catra, Adora, and Glimmer were huddled in a little circle, occasionally glancing back at Mara.

“What do we do?” Catra asked.

“I say, we try a hot bath. Then, wrap her in a bunch of blankets, bring in a space heater, and put her to bed. Then we hope and pray that it gets better,” Glimmer said.

“Okay, I’ll run a bath. Catra, you go find a space heater. Glimmer, go talk to Entrapta about this,” Adora told them. Glimmer and Catra nodded, then took off. Adora walked over to Mara and kneeled down in front of her.

“Hey, Mara?” Mara looked at her and Adora noticed that her eyes were dulling. “We think that maybe a bath will help warm you up. Do mind if I help?” 

Mara shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. Adora felt her heart breaking for her.

“Okay.” Adora moved to the bathroom, turning on the faucet and running a hot bath. She could see the steam rolling off the water as it hit the tub, but she hoped that it would be okay. She really just wanted Mara to be okay.

She put some soap into the bath to make it bubbly, then went to grab Mara. she took the blanket off of her and then carried her to the bathroom. Mara weakly grabbed onto the back of Adora’s jacket and rested her head on her collar bone.

Adora set her down on the counter, moving her braid to undo the accessory at the bottom. She also slid off the cuff that Mara wore around the many hair ties holding up her braid. She wrapped her braid around the ties, securing it into a bun with a scrunchie to keep it from getting wet. Wet hair when she was already freezing would not be a good thing.

She took off her choker, then helped her get undressed, slowly helping her lower into the tub. Mara laid back against the wall, sliding down as deep into the water as she could without submerging her face.

Adora sat with her back to the tub, glancing back at Mara a few times to make sure she was still breathing.

After about twenty minutes, there was a knock at the door.

“I got the space heater and some extra blankets. Sparkles talked to Entrapta, she’s trying to figure out what went wrong, but without seeing Mara she isn’t sure,” Catra said through the door.

“Okay. We’ll be done here in a few minutes, hopefully.”

Catra cracked the door open.

“Here’s some more comfortable clothes for her.” She set down a pajama set on the counter, definitely more geared for winter, but would hopefully make Mara warmer.

Adora turned around, picking up Mara’s wrist to feel her pulse and temperature. Mara cracked her eyes open at the feeling of Adora grabbing her. Adora gently smiled at her.

She felt a little warmer but her pulse was slower than it should be.

“Wanna go lay down? You look tired.” Adora asked. Mara weakly nodded.

Adora helped her out of the water, making sure she was completely dried off and then helping her into her pajamas. She then lifted her up onto the counter and took her hair down, undoing her braid and pulling out the hair ties. She carefully brushed through her ridiculously long hair, letting it fall around her shoulders and back.

She picked her up again, carrying her into the bedroom and to the bed. The room was a lot warmer now with the heater on, Adora noticed. Catra, Glimmer, and Entrapta were all in the room, various degrees of worry written on their faces. She brought Mara over to the bed, laying her down and covering her in the blankets.

“Thermometer?” She asked, holding out a hand for it once Mara was comfortable. Glimmer placed it into her palm.

Adora carefully placed it into Mara’s mouth, making sure it got under her tongue. They waited for a few minutes before it went off, beeping insistently. 

“94.2…” she muttered. 

“At least it went up,” Glimmer said, trying to find the silver lining.

“It’s still too low,” Catra countered, ever the pessimist. 

Entrapta came over, sitting behind Mara and gently prodding her.

“How far do you think I can go?” she asked.

“However far it takes to figure out what’s wrong so we can fix it,” Adora said.

“Well, to do that to the best of my ability and the most accurately, I’m gonna need to dissect her.” Entrapta pulled a knife from her belt.

“No! You can’t dissect her. We’re trying _not_ to kill her.” Adora took the knife from Entrapta. Entrapta nodded.

“No death. Got it.” And then she went to work, trying to figure out what was wrong. Adora crossed the room to sit with Glimmer and Catra.

After almost ten minutes, she slid off the bed.

“So, what is it?” Glimmer asked.

“It was definitely a problem with the cloning. Probably has something to do with the programming I pulled from the recordings. Her body thinks that she’s dead even though she isn’t. Whether or not she’ll survive this is unclear. She could get better, or she could get substantially worse and die from hypothermia. Only time will tell.” 

Glimmer, Adora, and Catra all visibly deflated.

“So there isn’t anything you can do to fix it?” Adora asked. Entrapta sadly shook her head.

“No, there’s not. I’m sorry.” 

Adora sighed.

“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known this would happen.” Adora got up and crossed the room, taking a seat next to Mara on the bed. The girl was almost asleep, seemingly. Her breathing had evened out, so that was a good sign. Adora brushed her bangs out of her face.

“I think she needs some sleep. You guys should probably go,” Adora said solemnly. She was trying her hardest not to cry. She couldn’t let Mara die, not again.

Catra nodded, coming over to Adora and lightly kissing the top of her head. “Take care of her,” she mumbled. Adora nodded. Glimmer, Entrapta, and Catra then left, leaving Adora alone with Mara.

She laid down next to her, sliding an arm under her and pulling her into her chest.

“Get some rest, Mara. We’ll get through this together,” she told her, gently playing with her hair. Mara weakly nodded, closing her eyes completely and falling asleep with her head on Adora’s chest.

…

Adora found herself nodding off after almost an hour of Mara sleeping when she was startled back awake by thrashing.

She looked down at Mara, who was kicking and thrashing in her sleep. She was sweating and her face looked pained. Adora gently grabbed her and pulled her back to her. She considered herself to be pretty good at calming someone down during and after nightmares.

“Hey, hey, Mara. It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re okay,” she told her, stroking her head and holding her in a way that would prevent her from thrashing. Her skin was still cold despite the sticky sweat and now she was starting to cry.

She woke up with a small scream, having no idea where she was.

“It’s okay, Mara. You’re okay,” Adora said gently, rocking her. Mara clutched her jacket, burying her face into her shoulder. Adora started to play with her hair to calm her down.

“I-I failed,” Mara whispered, and Adora knew immediately what her dream had been about.

“No, no you didn’t. You were so brave, Mara. You were a hero. Don’t let anyone tell you that you were a failure. Without you, none of us would be here right now,” Adora assured her, holding her close. Mara sniffled.

“I’m cold,” she said. Adora nodded.

“I know. I know. Here.” Adora reached for the thermometer on the bedside table. She waited for Mara to turn her face so she could access her mouth, carefully sliding the thermometer under her tongue. 

After three minutes, it went off. Adora read the number. It was at 93.7 degrees. It had gone down. Shit.

“Is it bad?” Mara asked.

No sense in lying to her.

“It went down,” Adora told her. Mara nodded, laying her head back down so her forehead was pressed into the crook of Adora’s neck.

“Get some more sleep, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Mara fell back asleep in less than two minutes, but Adora stayed awake, petting her hair and staring up at the ceiling. For the first time since the war ended almost a year ago, she didn’t have any idea what to do.

…

Another four hours had passed. It was dark outside now. Mara had been in and out of sleep, waking up from nightmares just to fall back asleep to more. Every time, Adora comforted her afterwards and tried to calm her down.

Her body temperature kept dropping. It was bordering 90 degrees now and Adora was losing hope.

Glimmer came into the room holding a tray with dinner for both girls on it.

“You look like you’ve had it rough,” she said, setting it down on the desk near the bed.

“It has been. She keeps getting colder and every time she sleeps all she dreams about is her death.” Adora lightly brushed a piece of hair out of Mara’s face. She was sleeping peacefully for now, but she didn’t know how long it would last.

“Do you think she’s gonna make it?” Glimmer asked. Tears filled Adora’s eyes at the question.

“Honestly? I don’t think so. And that hurts so much to say, but she’s not doing good.” Adora shook her head, moving the hand that wasn’t wrapped around Mara to wipe at her eyes.

“Well, the best we can do is make sure she stays comfortable. If she has to die again, we can make it so that she’s happy and comfortable and surrounded by the people who love her.” Glimmer blinked away the tears in her own eyes. She took Mara’s food off the tray. “You need to eat though.” she brought Adora over her food, setting the tray down in her lap.

“Thanks, Glimmer.” Glimmer nodded.

“Catra mentioned letting you two have the bed tonight and sleeping in another room, I think. So you might not see her.” Adora shook her head.

“No. I need her. This bed can fit all three of us.” Adora took a shaky bite of the soup Glimmer had brought her.

“Okay, I’ll tell her. Mara’s soup is over there. It might help warm her up if you want to wake her up and can get her to eat it.” Adora nodded, and with that, Glimmer left.

Mara woke up just as the door shut. 

“Did she wake you up?” Adora asked. Mara weakly nodded. Adora could tell that she was fading fast. “Are you hungry? Glimmer brought soup.” Adora pushed the bowl closer to Mara. Mara nodded again, shivering.

Adora spoonfed Mara, hoping and praying that it would do something to help her. Her grey eyes were clouded still. Adora brushed her bangs out of her eyes anyway.

After eating, Mara drifted off to sleep again. Adora wondered if at this point it was less of Mara sleeping and more her falling unconscious. She hadn’t had a nightmare in almost an hour.

Adora sighed and put the tray down on the floor. Mara rested her head right under Adora’s chin. Adora slowly stroked her hair. She felt like crying, but she wouldn’t. Not right now. She had to still have hope. 

The door opened again and Catra slipped in.

She didn’t say anything, just came over to the bed and crawled into Adora’s lap, curling up and resting her head on Mara’s legs. Adora reached her free hand down and rested it on Catra’s head, lightly scratching her ear.

She fell asleep buried under Mara and Catra, the coldness of Mara’s body an ever-present reminder of what could happen hanging over them.

…

Adora woke up and the first thing she noticed was that the sun was up. She immediately freaked out. Catra was still laying across her and Mara’s laps and Mara was still laying with her head under Adora’s chin like she had been when Adora fell asleep. She didn’t look like she had ever moved during the night.

Adora rushed to grab her wrist, feeling for a pulse. Something, anything, that would calm her nerves and confirm that Mara was still alive.

Her pulse was slow when she when she found it and she was freezing cold. Her breathing was shallow. Adora gently shook her, trying to wake her up.

Mara’s eyes blinked open. Adora looked at her and knew that it was over, they didn’t have much time left. She couldn’t hold onto blind hope anymore. They were gonna lose her.

She remembered what Glimmer had said the night before. That they needed to make sure she died comfortable and happy if it was gonna happen. Adora went to gently shake Catra awake.

“Catra,” she said. Catra slowly woke up, taking her sweet time. “Catra!” Adora said a little harsher, keeping her voice quiet as to not hurt Mara but still conveying the urgency she was feeling.

“What?” Catra asked. She looked to Mara, who’s lips were tinted blue.

“Go get Glimmer and Entrapta. She’s fading.” Catra understood immediately and got up from the bed, running out of the room.

“It’s so cold,” Mara whispered. 

“I know,” Adora told her.

“I’m dying again,” were Mara’s next words. 

“Yeah, I know. Is there anything I can do to help you be more comfortable?” Mara shook her head.

“Just keep holding me.” Her cheek was pressed against Adora’s chest, right where the failsafe had been. Adora continued to stroke her hair until Catra returned. 

“Are you scared?” Adora asked. Mara shook her head again.

“I don’t wanna die, but I’m not scared. It’s already a lot less painful than the first time. You’ve taken such good care of me. I’m not afraid.”

Adora was tearing up now.

“I’m glad I could be here.”

“I am too. I’m happy I finally got to meet you and see how beautiful you’ve made our planet.”

The door opened and Catra, Glimmer, and Entrapta filed in. Glimmer came over and kneeled down in front of Mara.

“Is there anything you want or need that can make this easier?” she asked.

“I wanna talk to Razz before I go.” Glimmer nodded at her request and teleported away in a puff of sparkles.

Catra, being extremely careful with her movements as to not hurt Mara, crawled back into her lap and curled up. Mara reached a hand down and began to pet her head, stroking her ears and occasionally petting the fur on her face. Entrapta came over and sat behind Mara, playing with her hair.

Glimmer teleported back in with Madame Razz.

“Oh Mara, dearie,” she said, practically level with where Mara was laying on the bed.

“Hey, Razz.” Mara smiled. “Thank you, for everything. You were the best mentor and friend I ever could have asked for.”

Razz sadly smiled at Mara. “I’m happy to have been.”

“Finish off that pie for me, okay? I’m glad we finally got to bake it together, wouldn’t want it to go to waste.” She laughed a little and for a moment, Adora could see Mara’s eyes clear up before they went back to a clouded haze.

“I promise you I will. Rest now, Mara dearie.” Mara nodded and turned to look at Entrapta.

"Thanks for bringing me back. Thank you for giving me the chance to see everything Adora has done for us," she told her. Entrapta reached forward to push her bangs to the side how she usually wore them.

"You're welcome, Mara. I'm happy to help," she said tearfully. Mara smiled at her, then looked up towards Adora, rolling back to her first position, curled up onto Adora's chest.

“I hope you don’t forget me,” she said. Adora shook her head.

“We would never,” her voice cracked slightly as she was almost full-on crying.

“Don’t cry, Adora. Just know that you did amazing, both saving the world and taking care of me.” Mara settled back down against Adora’s chest. Adora nodded.

“I’m happy to have.” 

Mara closed her eyes and the hand that was petting Catra stilled. It felt like everyone in the room was holding their breaths, waiting for Mara’s to stop.

Adora pulled the blanket up around her more.

The shivers stopped at last as her breathing slowed, and in a matter of moments, Mara was gone again.

Not everything could end like a fairytale, Adora guessed. Maybe some things were meant to stay dead, but she wasn’t about to let Mara’s memory fade with her. She would carry on her amazing legacy and pass it down until she was gone too.

She had too, for Mara. She deserved that much.


End file.
